'Game of Thrones': Indira Varma hopes Ellaria 'will be saved'

Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Indira Varma hopes Ellaria will still be saved on Game of Thrones.

The 43-year-old British actress discussed Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes' "genius" fate at the hands of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) in an interview with Newsweek following Episode 3, "The Queen's Justice."

"I still live in hope that somehow Ellaria will be saved, either by a repentant Cersei who needs her on side or by [Daenerys Targaryen's] team... but I doubt they've even given her a second thought," she said. "She's too much of a loose cannon."

Episode 3 saw Cersei take revenge on Ellaria by poisoning her last living daughter, the Sand Snake Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers), with the same toxin Ellaria used on Cersei's daughter, Myrcella. Cersei left Ellaria to watch Tyene slowly die while gagged and chained in a dungeon.

"When I first read the scene I was irritated that I had no dialogue," Varma said of Ellaria's muffled protestations. "But I couldn't second guess where Cersei was taking it which was compelling. And, by the end, I thought what a genius bit of revenge and writing."

"I imagine Ellaria will go insane and then have lucid moments where she tries to find a way out for her and Tyene -- clutching wildly at any false hope of freedom which will send her more mad," she predicted. "How gruesome."

Varma previously told Entertainment Weekly Ellaria won't be seen again on Game of Thrones. She said she saw her character's end coming, considering the series is drawing to a close.

"Obviously there's lots of trimming going on. It's all coming to head and you have to get rid of less important characters that the audience hasn't had the chance to invest in as much," the star explained. "So I was expecting it."

"I wasn't heartbroken," she added. "And I was like, 'As long as I die on screen...' and they were like 'Yeah!' But of course I don't die on screen. I stay alive, I'm just not going to reappear. I think it's really clever."

Game of Thrones stars Headey, Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke, and airs Sundays on HBO.